Black Mirror creator, Alex Gibney, has a new vision of the self-made tech apocalypse that humanity will bring about. It's Balatro for phones: "It's probably the most addictive thing created"

Black Mirror has been unnervingly prophetic. I thought Netflix's dystopian series, Black Mirror, was a little too focused on the "what if" phones. Since I now see my phone as an obelisk emitting psychic harm, I am more inclined to listen to Charlie Brooker when he says that there is a threat to humanity that's Balatro.

In a recent interview, Brooker was questioned about the origins of Black Mirror and the inspirations behind episodes like "Joan is Awful." This led to discussions about the show's 6th season in 2023. When asked about the games he has been playing lately, Brooker, a former writer for the now-out-of-print PC Zone Magazine, said he had fallen victim to the seductive allure of Balatro.

Brooker said he rewards himself with Balatro while writing, along with Ghosts of Tsushima, Dave the Diver and other games. He described Balatro as "possibly the addictive thing ever created." The poker roguelike game is so addictive that Brooker believes its imminent mobile release will threaten productivity around the world.

Brooker said that the app would be released for phones, and at that time I believe human activity will drop by about 25%.

It's clear that this prediction was made in jest. But hey, I thought it was absurd when the Black Mirror episode involving a woman who had an AI clone created of her deceased husband. Last year, tech companies began to make this grim future a reality. Oh, and the 2017 episode in which the weaponized robots dogs killed off most humanity? We've also started doing that.

Is a global Balatro malaise possible if we can't trust ourselves not to create a torment nexus? It's hard to say. We'll know why if, in the next Black Mirror series, the world is paralyzed with the narcotic splendor that comes from finding a good Joker combination.